The connections between conceptions of disorder and patterns of help seeking for mental illness problems are to be explored through the analysis of extensive interview material from members of the various subcultures of an urban Southern community. A total of 576 lay persons were interviewed and constitute a factorially balanced sample of black and white men and women from three levels of social class. Interviewees were presented with 6 descriptions of behavioral deviance derived to provide contrasts between the orientations of the sub-cultures sampled on the basis of previous empirical data reflecting the impact of the items on members of these same sub-cultures. The vignettes describes both severe and moderate forms of disorder. The interviews contain both objective ratings and open-ended spontaneous thoughts of subjects on such matters as the causes of the behavior, the social impact or problematic aspects of such behavior, the nature of appropriate remedial or intervention efforts, and the strategies and social pathways of which help could be obtained. Similar interviews are to be completed with gatekeeper professionals (clergy, physicians, police, public health nurses, and social workers) and include accounts of their activities and orientations as referral agents. The open-ended thoughts of interviewees about the causes of disorder and appropriate sources of help have been coded and these data are being analyzed and related to the results from the objectives measures. The goal of this period is to clarify subcultural differences and similarities in the underlying conceptual structure of mental illness concerns, a descriptive analysis of help seeking networks in the contrasted subcultures, and a systematic comparison of the structure of gatekeepers' conceptions with those of the subcultural groups.